Adler's basic premise is this - Psychology as a discipline can address the type of human suffering caused by social maladjustment. If one suffers it is likely that feels he does not belong. This is likely caused by an early feeling of inferiority, which creates a drive to superiority. But this drive is often expressed by seeking a sense of superiority in some fantastical or esoteric way. Thus the individual becomes doubly alienated. First by his feeling that he doesn't belong because of shortcomings, and second by the feeling he has created that he is too good to bother with the inherent competitiveness of human society.